Too Many Curses

A. Lee Martinez

Sept 2008 · Sold by Tor Books

About this eBook

The wizard Margle the Horrendous takes special pride in never killing his enemies. Instead, he transforms them into various accursed forms and locks them away in his castle. His halls are filled with his collection of fallen heroes and defeated villains, along with a few ordinary folk who were just unfortunate enough to draw Margle's attention.

It's Nessy's duty to tend this castle. It's a lot of work, but she manages, taking pride in housekeeping talents that keep the castle from collapsing into chaos. But when Margle suddenly dies, everything begins to unravel. Nessy finds herself surrounded by monsters, curses, a door that should never be opened, and one very deadly dark wizardess.

Nessy doesn't have might or magic on her side; she's just a kobold: short, furry, and sensible. Her allies aren't much better: a voice without a body, an angry fruit bat, a monster under her bed, a wizard in a jar (or some of him, anyway), and a one-eyed, one-horned, flying, purple, people eater. It would be smarter to walk away, but taking care of the castle is Nessy's job, and that's just what she intends to do.

If only she could find time to polish the silver while beating back the forces of darkness.



At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Ratings and reviews

3 stars (better than 'just ok' but these descriptions are lame). A bit slow to get things started but the ending was cute. Yes, but that's kind of the problem, isn't it? A very cute tale filled with lots of good lessons to be learned about magick and even (non)-human nature. So let's all hold hands and dance in our sunny ending and have cake, too! Rainbows and kittens and stickers, yay! And they all lived happily ever after... barf. OK, no worries, I still adore A. Lee Martinez's work but 'Too Many Curses' was just a tad bit - not childish, that's the wrong word - pleasant? Martinez offers lots of fun little cursed characters and yes, getting to know just how much 'life' existed because of the evil wizard's ways with magic was interesting. But the book read like it was intended for kids younger than my own (come on, they're teenagers: they hate this moral lesson, goody goody stuff). Even the gore isn't all that terrible gory even when it's dripping from the walls. Look, once again I AM NOT comparing Martinez to Sir Terry Pratchett but I need this reference now to explain the book. You know how some of Pratchett's best pieces just were amazing and spoke to all ages, like a box of Lego (suitable for ages 3 to 99?)? Take the Watch series or even some of the best books with Death or the Lancre Witches? Well, that's kind of what's happened here... ONLY 'Too Many Curses' is a Tiffany Aching story but we didn't know it was a Tiffany Aching story. Heck, there's even one character speaking a bit of Nac Mac Feegle brough included! Sure, Nessy is (a bit) kick-ass in her own way but in a decidedly made for family hour nature. And even if our Hero the Kobold is obviously not human, well, try and convince me her personality isn't tweener female. So yeah, the grumpy old man in me had trouble getting past that. Still really like Martinez. Just because the story didn't do much for me, he's still an awesome writer. Oh well, I need to take my pills, see you next time...

This author rocks my socks! The plot, which is a very good one indeed, takes a backseat to the incredible humor with which every character is imbued. The good, the bad, the fuzzy in-betweeners are all fleshed out with an uncanny sense of wit and irony. You gotta love a story where the hero/heroine isn't the most beautiful character on the outside. (At least I do!)

This is a really fun fantasy novel with a unique spin on things. The main character is cursed well before the book begins and just acts as housekeeper for this castle full of other cursed characters. Lots off strangeness and just overall a very fun read.

About the author

A. Lee Martinez lives in Terrell, Texas. He is the award-winning author of Gil's All Fright Diner, In the Company of Ogres, A Nameless Witch, and The Automatic Detective.